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<blockquote data-quote="Tiberius" data-source="post: 1811311" data-attributes="member: 1376">I get some sleep for a few hours, and Green Slime comes along and posts what I was going to say.&nbsp; That'll learn me.&nbsp; GS is right, in order to gauge the evilness of the stealing itself, you need to determine whence the laws come.&nbsp; Do the anti-theft laws exist because some great cosmic force says &quot;Theft is a no-no&quot;, or do they exist because people don't like having their stuff ganked?&nbsp; If you go the &quot;great cosmic force&quot; route, that brings added complications.&nbsp; In a monotheistic religion, it's easy to say &quot;X is evil because $DEITY says so!&quot;.&nbsp; In a polytheistic seting, like most D&amp;D, you have situations where one deity might say things like &quot;Theft deprives another of his rightful goods, and as such is evil!&quot; while another says &quot;(SHRUG) It's not particularly nice, but forceful redistribution of wealth is not in and of itself immoral.&quot;&nbsp; Lands who adhere more to one deity than another might have their property crime laws tailored to suit their patron's thoughts on the matter, but deities with conflicting opinions muddles things.&nbsp; Which is right?&nbsp; They can't both be.&nbsp; Ultimately, it's up to the DM to decide whether he (and thus the cosmos at large) finds the act evil or not.Though I suppose it would be a bit of a tip-off as to who is correct if all the worshippers of a neutral god of thieving, for instance, sooner or later fell into evil.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tiberius, post: 1811311, member: 1376"] I get some sleep for a few hours, and Green Slime comes along and posts what I was going to say. That'll learn me. GS is right, in order to gauge the evilness of the stealing itself, you need to determine whence the laws come. Do the anti-theft laws exist because some great cosmic force says "Theft is a no-no", or do they exist because people don't like having their stuff ganked? If you go the "great cosmic force" route, that brings added complications. In a monotheistic religion, it's easy to say "X is evil because $DEITY says so!". In a polytheistic seting, like most D&D, you have situations where one deity might say things like "Theft deprives another of his rightful goods, and as such is evil!" while another says "(SHRUG) It's not particularly nice, but forceful redistribution of wealth is not in and of itself immoral." Lands who adhere more to one deity than another might have their property crime laws tailored to suit their patron's thoughts on the matter, but deities with conflicting opinions muddles things. Which is right? They can't both be. Ultimately, it's up to the DM to decide whether he (and thus the cosmos at large) finds the act evil or not. Though I suppose it would be a bit of a tip-off as to who is correct if all the worshippers of a neutral god of thieving, for instance, sooner or later fell into evil. [/QUOTE]

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